The Class 3 "community" used to be fairly tight nit . A professional and honorable group . I don't recall hearing too much about dishonest dealings in the past .

I've been reading some of the recent postings about ripoffs . Is this happening more often ? Would you attribute these to the higher gun prices equating to a higher "score" for the con men ? Internet ?

no just fellow men trying to screw over fellow men for the almighty dollar..when they die they can't take it with them...not many u-haul's behind a hearse for that final last ride in a caddy or lincoln...the only thing that give's me solace is that three of these such person's i knew are now deceased and i'm still here.

somebody tonight mentioned one of them..and i said yep he's now a rotten freakin halloween skelton now.

if i had the chance i could decorate my house with his bone's...doe's that sound crass??or evil....naw!! just reality.

it's about time the class three world policed itself..and when this rip-off go's on.they get called on it and get the just reward..wink!! but thats just me a good christian. take care,ron

The Class 3 "community" used to be fairly tight nit . A professional and honorable group . I don't recall hearing too much about dishonest dealings in the past .

I've been reading some of the recent postings about ripoffs . Is this happening more often ? Would you attribute these to the higher gun prices equating to a higher "score" for the con men ? Internet ?

Easily the Internet.

Most of the people doing the ripoffs are lazy and how much more lazy can one be than to make money by writing 3-4 sentences describing an item with a price and when someone pays then just take the money and run.

I would have to say the Internet has made this "community" more visible and eaiser to spread the word which is great because it attracts some good people and bad because it attracts some of the worst.

I can honestly say that if it were not for the Internet, I would not be owning one and would surely have not met a number of you people or found this GREAT message board.

Guy is right, there used to be honor among those in the machinegun world. You will still find it in some of the old timers.

I have been in the business long enough to have seen the transition and my take on the subject is that it started with the manufacturing ban. As the price of the guns we love so dearly began to rise in value ... the sharks, with nothing more than $ signs in their sights, infiltrated our ranks.

When the guns were relatively inexpensive (I remember $600 & $700 TommyGuns) nobody cared. It was about the gun. With the advent of $20,000 guns the greed in men's hearts prevails. (Not that there weren't any long ago ... just a lot fewer of them.)

I used to do gun work for a customer, send it to them for approval, and wait for them to send me my pittance. I never had to chase anyone for it. That has come to a screeching halt. I no longer extend that courtesy to new customers.

So I think we can safely thank those responsible for the M.G. ban in 1986 for the Sharks of today.

Interests:Like the name says "Guns and beer" (and really hot chicks who like guns and beer).

Posted 31 January 2006 - 05:52 PM

Back in the oldern days (when you could still call on a machinegun you saw for sale in Shotgun News and it was still available), you only had to know a couple of people....cause they knew a couple of people...and so on. Everybody knew everybody somehow. I used to love making deals with people because when I asked for a reference, they would always name someone I knew. The advent of the Internet changed all of that. Made the world much larger. The core group is still a fairly honorable crowd though. Some of the nicest, trusting, and most generous people I know.